Sun in Pisces, Mars Retrograde in Libra

Sun in Pisces, Mars Retrograde

“‘Who are You?’ said the Caterpillar... Alice replied... ‘I hardly know... at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.’” - from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Pisces solar month: 2/18/14 - 3/20/14

If you relate with Alice’s response to the Caterpillar, congratulations - you are in alignment with the current energetic thrusts.  When the Sun transits through Pisces, it’s time to let go of who you think you are, and put your energy and attention into merging with whatever presents itself to you. Only through surrendering your perceptions of yourself can your new true self emerge in the Aries month.

It’s time, now, to pay attention to your dreams, & to direct the flow of your life through the realm of visions, insights & inklings. Pisces is the master of ambiguity, with one foot in this world & one foot in the beyonds. Until Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, enters Aries in 2025, we are in a time of all things Pisces intensified. So forgive everything & everyone, exercise compassion with yourself & others, & walk the razor’s edge of the mystic: absolute awareness with utter surrender.

What new levels of forgiveness can you reach this month - towards both yourself & others?

How do things shift when you tap into compassion in difficult situations - for yourself & others?

Do you have any addictive or escapist tendencies?

How can you cultivate more presence & acceptance?

What is arising in your dreams these days - both in sleep & in waking?

What is arising in your imagination these days?

Can you surrender to what these images, themes & energies suggest?

Nodal shift into Aries/Libra: 2/18/14 - 11/13/15

This month, we begin trekking through the foothills of the energetic mountains of 2014, so let your heart open wide (Leo rules the heart) with the Leo full moon on 2/14, interestingly falling on that day that people think about romance & companionship. That, friends, is some cosmic foreshadowing because four days later, the lunar nodes (points indicating karmic release & evolution) enter the Aries/Libra axis of self/partnership, where they’ll transit until late 2015.

With the south node in Aries, it’s time to let go of “my way or the highway” behaviors & attitudes. If you have story lines about being a survivor, a hero against the odds, or a renegade all on your own against the world, it’s time to change your story. Instead, tap into Aries’ most positive traits - courage, loyalty, enthusiasm, vitality & vision to help you tap into your Libran side.  With the north node in Libra, it’s time to develop your capacity for compromise, your ability to instigate peace, your aesthetic sensibilities, your embodiment of grace, & your relationship skills.

The great key to evolving through the Aries/Libra axis is allowing your relationships with others to expand who you are as an individual through accepting, understanding, & eventually embracing their differences. Once again, the Alice & the Caterpillar theme of surrendering who you’ve been & who you think you are presents itself.

Do you see yourself as a survivor?

How might your life change if you saw yourself as powerful instead?

In what ways have you experienced grace?

How can you invite more grace into your life?

Do you see yourself as heroically facing the world all alone?

How might your life alter if you acknowledged all the help & support you have received from others?

How might your life alter if you learned how to effectively ask for help?

How can you cultivate peace & beauty in yourself, in your life, & in the world?

Mars retrograde: 3/1/14 - 5/19/14

Just in case you were planning on slacking on the lunar node work, the planets have aligned a few persuasive arguments in favor of evolution. Mars, the ruler of Aries, will be retrograding through the sign of Libra for two and a half months. He stations retrograde very close to the degree of the next lunar eclipse in Libra (4/15/14), and opposite Eris, a modern ruler of Libra. The next day, on 3/2/14, Venus - the traditional ruler of Libra - makes an exact square with Mars, still almost stationary in the sky.

In layperson’s terms, what all that means is your relationships will be your main source of growth right now. You will experience that as challenges in existing relationships, new relationships that stretch both your strength & your level of understanding, & also great rewards in/through relationships after you’ve put in much honest effort. Eris’ presence in this configuration suggests that if you are experiencing strife in your relationships, it is because you are not seeing the whole picture. In that case, find the missing piece that alters your perception. Depending on the situation, that may necessitate leaving a relationship, surrendering to being wholly in a relationship, changing the nature of a relationship, or changing your role within a relationship.

How do you direct your energy in your relationships?

Is there any strife showing up in your relationships?

How might you need to shift how you direct your energy in your relationships, based on that strife?

How is your balance of compromise & self-advocacy in your various relationships?

Which relationships might need to alter form, either ending, committing deeper, or shifting gears?

What roles do you play in your relationships? Do these seem appropriate, or do they need to shift?

Do you assert yourself gracefully?

Are you courageous in your compromises?

Other events worth noting:

Mercury stations direct in Aquarius on 2/28/14. Please wait a week to celebrate that fact because it takes a while for him to get back up to speed. By then, Mars will be retrograde, so remember to be patient & flexible through the first half of 2014. We entered the year of the horse and a new elemental cycle in the Chinese astrological system recently, but we still have a mass of retrogrades to contend with. There will be movement, but it will be two steps forward, one step back until roughly July. Then it’s time to hold onto your hats because the pace will be wild. Until then, try to enjoy the slow pace, & surrender to the setbacks as they are ultimately leading you to a truer alignment with your own heart.

Bay Area folks, I’ll be teaching a class on energetic applications of herbs for current astrological trends at Homestead Apothecary in north Oakland on Thursday, March 13th, 2014 at 6pm.

Next month’s posting will cover the explosive eclipse in Libra that occurs in tandem with a Grand Cardinal Cross (Want change? Here it comes!) & a farewell solar eclipse in Taurus. By the way, you are already feeling that Libra eclipse.

As for this month, when in doubt, surrender.

Surrender to what is present & current with awareness & grace.

For more personalized insight, you may schedule a private astrological consult, healing session, or healing intensive in person, over the phone, or via Skype. Feel free to like, forward this page on & repost it as you see fit. Until next time, wishing you insight & heartsight.  Thanks for reading, Rae Diamond

Sun in Aquarius 2014, Mercury Retrograde

Sun in Aquarius, Mercury Retrograde

Sun in Aquarius: 1/19/14 - 2/18/14

Mercury Retrograde: 2/6/14 - 2/28/14

Here we are - a mass of consciousnesses, coexisting in some plane of existence that many of us call reality.  We bump into each other - this reminds us that we are not alone here, and offers us some reflective surface to bounce our perceptions off of.  This is how we test our awareness, either proving or disproving our perceptions.

Here we are - a mass of souls, infinitely interconnected through some web that spans all of time & space.  There is a force that bonds us, feeds us, heals & teaches us.  This force reaches us through our interactions with each other, and through our own awareness of this force.  Some call it love,  but it is stronger & vaster than any name we could give it.

The solar month of Aquarius, 2014 offers you the opportunity to gain insight into your connexions to others on intimate, communal and spiritual levels.  In any transit of the Sun through Aquarius, we tend to be focused on community.  We reach out to others, meet new people, and ideally stir up our stable reality with some inspired spontaneity.  This year, we have a couple of interesting twists to this already interesting Aquarian plot.

Plot Twist #1:

Venus, ruler of beauty, grace, abundance, and relationship, continues her retrograde in Capricorn (since 12/21/13) until January 31st.  This influence has given you ample opportunities to reevaluate the structures of your life, to reevaluate the relationships you’re in and how you operate within those relationships, and to reevaluate your current financial status, financial goals, & how you intend to attain those goals.  Normally once Venus stations direct, we get to implement outer-world shifts, based on our retrograde-induced reevaluation process.  Due to plot twist #2 (see below), and to the delay-inducing influence of Capricorn, and to further sticky elements ahead, these changes will be slow in manifesting.  Rule of thumb for the first half of 2014: Be patient!

Look at the investments - financial and otherwise - you’ve made or are making during this time, and consider what these investments might lead you to.

Why are you investing your time, energy, money, and devotion into these items or actions or creations?

What is important to you about them?

What, exactly, is important to you?

Does where you put your time and energy teach you about what is important to you?

Are your goals in alignment with your values - in relationship, in life, in career, in thought, in deed?

Plot Twist #2:

Mercury, the trickster god & ruler of communication & transportation, stations retrograde in Pisces on February 6th, and then moves backwards into Aquarius on February 12th.  General Mercury retrograde advice is back up your computers & other communication devices, tune up your transportation vehicles, & get any upcoming travel plans squared away before February 6th.  Then be flexible with how things unfold throughout February.  Go with the flow, especially when things go awry, and open yourself to any insights the inevitable communication & transportation glitches may offer you.

For this specific Mercury retrograde cycle in Pisces & Aquarius:

February 6th - 12th

How does your mood effect your perceptions?

What do you need to forgive in yourself and others, & how will this forgiveness ultimately free you?

Do you perceive things from the role of victim or martyr?  Why?  What would happen if you changed that story?

February 12th - 28th

How are your perceptions shaped by your community?

What unique perspective do you have to offer humanity?

Is that perspective ripe yet?  If not, how can you nurture it into its fullest expression?

Are you allowing room in your mind for other perspectives?  Are you listening?

Plot thickener:

That pesky Cardinal T-square (see last month’s post) - Throughout the past couple months and the coming months, we are balancing various tensions between masterminding longterm shifts in our responsibilities, increasing our experience of nourishment, and implementing/expressing fresh & sometimes radical insights into who we are.  These are disparate energies that for now feel incongruous, but will integrate into a cohesive whole in the future.  Do your best to manage the balance of inner and outer needs, and personal and relationship needs, which may require elongating your sense of time.

Next month’s report will cover the lunar nodes’ entry into the Aries/Libra axis.  Until then, we are completing one and a half years of evolution in the Taurus/Scorpio axis.  Consider these questions, as we complete this nodal transit:

Have you identified your core truths?

Are you taking appropriate risks, based on your core truths?

Have you released grasping at security & safety, in favor of what truly & deeply matters to you?

What transformations have taken place in you & in your life since September 2012?

For more personalized insight, you may schedule a private astrological consult, a healing session, or a healing intensive.  Consults & healings are both available in person, over the phone, or via Skype.  If you enjoy these reports, please, like, forward this page on & repost it as you see fit.  Until next time, wishing you insight & heartsight.  Thanks for reading,

Rae Diamond

Winter Solstice 2013 & Intro to 2014

Winter Solstice, 2013 & a Peek at 2014

Sun in Capricorn: 12/21/13 (PDT) through 1/19/14

Reality, realization, really, real, surreal, ethereal - the Latin root of these words means, “thing.”

“Thing” comes from an Old German word that referred not only to inanimate objects, but also meetings and matters of concern.  In the coming months, notice the encounters - the meetings - in your life... encounters with other people, encounters between matter & non-matter (i.e. energy, emotion, thought, the mysterious), & encounters between the various parts of yourself - between the parts you know well and the parts you hide from yourself.

The questions - the real questions - for the Capricorn solar month & for all of this winter season are:

What are the “things” of my life?  How did they come to be?

What “things” are worth bringing into being?

What am I encountering, & how did I manifest those encounters?

Does this matter really concern me?  If so, how?  If not, how can I drop it?

Although the December 17th Gemini Full Moon is a hectic time, give those questions some initial rumination.  With personal genius-stimulating Uranus stationing direct in revolutionary Aries, & mental Mercury applying to a conjunction with the energizing Sun in late philosophy-minded Sagittarius, fresh insight is readily available.  The proximity of the Sun to the Galactic Center offers access to unifying ideas, which will be quite useful in dealing with the ongoing loose Grand Cardinal Cross - an influence that has us going in every direction at once.  Yes, there is a cosmic reason you feel like a chicken running about with its head cut off.

Winter Solstice - December 21st - is a power-packed day as the Sun enters nose-to-the-grindstone Capricorn, & less than five hours later Venus stations retrograde at the tail end of that same sign.  She’ll be retrograding through late to mid-Capricorn until January 31st, 2014.  We tend to feel Venus retrograde periods intensely as issues with finances, relationships & values come to the fore.  Venus is the esoteric ruler of Gemini, so communication is also affected - not in the Mercurial way of losing cell phones and such, but rather in direct, Venusian person-to-person interactions.  Venus rules the compromises we make in order to keep the peace, & our ability to tune into another person’s views & state of being in order to relate effectively with them.  Her retrograde through Saturn-ruled Capricorn suggests necessary adjustments in our work & responsibilities, based on our changing values, changing finances, & changing relationships.

The Sabian symbol for the degree of Venus’ retrograde station is “a woman reading tea leaves.”  The danger of this influence is allowing mundane details & pesky nuisances to bog you down, & thus receiving tainted insights that maintain your current level of realization through that smoggy filter of awareness.  The high road is to steady your mind on what truly matters to you, & allow insight to filter your way through that lens so that you are able to realize newer, truer “things” for yourself.

Venus retrograde questions:

What do I value?  Am I living, acting, speaking & thinking in tune with my values?

What am I responsible for, based on my values?  Is this in alignment with the responsibilities I’ve actually taken on?

Mars in Libra is applying to an opposition with Uranus & a square with Pluto, stimulating another Cardinal T-square, & a loose Grand Cardinal Cross with Jupiter retrograde in mid-Cancer.  You’ll feel these influences strongly starting in late December and early January, & again in mid-January.  That feeling is the uncomfortable combination of these many disparate tugs:

1, deepening your commitments to & restructuring your life for the sake of your long-term goals (Pluto in Capricorn),

2, acting - sometimes suddenly - on revolutionizing insights (Uranus in Aries),

3, balancing your will with necessary compromise, especially in relationships (Mars in Libra), &

4, clarifying your true needs, & updating your beliefs around your access to nourishment (Jupiter retrograding in Cancer).

Saturn in Scorpio is both trine Jupiter in Cancer, stimulating both inspired & practical planning in those matters that have deeper meaning & offer greater nourishment, & square the Leo Moon, insinuating tension between your need for carefree joy and the work of attending to your responsibilities.  Make sure you create space for play this season, even as your work sweeps up your time, energy & resources.  This configuration suggests that play is what ultimately feeds your work, & brings you the most nourishment in the long run.

Trends of 2014:  The new moon in Capricorn occurs in the wee hours of the first day of the new year.  We enter the year with half of the major bodies used in astrology in the sign of Capricorn - the Sun, the Moon, Pluto & Mercury are all closely conjoined in mid-Capricorn, while Venus retrogrades in late Capricorn, applying to a sextile with Saturn in Scorpio.  The Grand Cardinal Cross, mentioned above, is in full effect.

Based on those hard-driving patterns, the following questions will be fruitful guides at that new moon, & throughout 2014:

How can I maintain a sense of balance, freedom & loving softness, even when my responsibilities & goals demand my time, energy, resources & focus?

Am I working towards what really matters to me, or am I just working?

Am I taking time out to enjoy the fruits of my labors, & to make sure I’m still on course?

The rule of thumb for a happy & successful 2014 is plan some really good vacations because your  responsibilities will have you working triple time this year.  The surest way to balance out that heavy dose of hard-working, goal-fixated, Saturn-ruled Capricorn is to step away from your normal reality every so often.  This will give you the personal freedom Uranus in Aries asks of you, the compassion, healing & dreamtime Neptune & Chiron in Pisces require, the loving tenderness & self-care Jupiter in Cancer calls for, & with all that you’ll meet the drive for overall balance inspired by Mars in Libra.

The Full Moon in Cancer on January 15th stimulates another round of Grand Cardinal Cross intensity... as if full moons aren’t intense enough on their own.  Retrograding Venus in Capricorn is applying to a square with Mars in Libra, applying tension to relationships, especially around issues of responsibility and compromise.  Temper your communications by stating what’s important to you, & finding out what is important to the people you are communicating with.  Differing values lead to different points of view.  That will consistently be at the root of your misunderstandings & discussions at this time.

Also in this full moon chart, Mercury in Aquarius (ruled by Uranus) is applying to a sextile with Uranus.  This influence offers profound insight, especially if you “think outside the box.”  The best advice for this full moon is take some time to brainstorm & improvise in any medium.  If you enjoy automatic writing (2 minutes of non-stop writing without lifting your pen until an alarm goes off, based on a given word, phrase or other idea-stimulator), here are some planetary energy-inspired prompts for mid-January:

I’m inspired by...

In balance

What really feeds me:

What I won’t admit to myself:

And that brings us to the end of the Capricorn solar month, at the end of which, the days will be noticeably lengthening once again.  Stay tuned for the Aquarius solar month report, which will cover the next Mercury retrograde.  Did I mention that the first half of 2014 will be dominated by pesky inner planet retrogrades?  Write your plans in the sand, friends.  Summer’s the time for bigger leaps & steadier commitments.

For more personalized insight, you may schedule a private astrological consult, a healing session, or a healing intensive.  Consults & healings are both available in person, over the phone, or via Skype.  If you enjoy these reports, please forward this page on & repost it as you see fit.  Until next time, wishing you tender stillness, even in the midst of the many callings of the mundane world.

Thanks for reading,

Rae Diamond

...

Sun in Sagittarius, Loose Water Trine & Cardinal Cross

Solar Month of Sagittarius, 2013

Sun in Sagittarius: 11/21/13 (PDT) through 12/21/13

What comes into your mind when you read the following word?

REWARD

Spend some time with your answers (aside from any answers involving wanted posters from old Western movies or desperate lost pet flyers).  I’ll ask you again in the spring, & you’ll then find your answers to be quite different - richer & deeper in meaning, & with a sense of a vaster timespan.

On a similar yet different note, one of the things I get asked the most as an astrologer is, “When will things get better?”  The only honest answer to this question is, “There is no such thing as better.”  I’m a professional, so I have a better bedside manner than to say that directly to someone struggling with the beasts of life.  But these planetary reports are truth time, so it’s safe to say:

Things will not get better because there is no such thing as better.  Things will change, & hopefully we will evolve both as individuals & as a species so that we perceive & experience these changes in a more open way.

But for now, we are many planets, eclipses, & sensitive points deep in truth-telling, transformation-inducing Scorpio, in the throes of an on-going tense configuration of outer planets, decades away from gaining our bearings after the 2006 discovery of Eris (named after the goddess of strife!), & about to enter into an inner planet retrograding bonanza.  This age we find ourselves in, friends, is challenging.  But the coming solar month may feel just a tad softer than the previous month & the proceeding months, so whoop up & enjoy your holidays - or your avoidance of them - as the case may be... because we’ll be entering a dense time this Winter Solstice.

The Sagittarius solar month begins on November 21st with a close alignment of the recently stationed retrograde ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter, dark moon Lilith & the Moon in the lunar home sign of Cancer, all widely trine Saturn, Mercury & the lunar north node in Scorpio, & recently stationed direct Chiron in Pisces.  This is a loose grand water trine, reminding you to manage your emotions this month.  Here’s how this planetary set-up asks you to do just that:

Cancer conjunction:

What happens when I deepen my faith in the support of the Universe?

How do I see my needs evolving, & how can I plan to support my future needs, rather than my present desires?

What needs am I afraid of acknowledging?  Am I projecting these “unsightly” needs onto others?

Scorpio conjunction:

Am I responding appropriately to my needs, & to the needs of those I’m closest with?

Am I effectively communicating my needs, or am I expecting others to just know what I need & provide it for me, like a mother for an infant?

Where do my needs & my deepest desires meet, & where do they diverge?

What are the most important responsibilities in my life - those things that having attended to them will allow me to die in peace, when my time in this body comes to a close?

Chiron in Pisces insights:

Which situations in my life will shift with the salve of FORGIVENESS?  Hint: Consider those wounds that will never go away in your most intimate relationships, & in your family.  Forgive the unforgivable, & see what happens.

Am I being compassionate enough - with myself as well as with others?

With the Sun in Sagittarius, the glues that will hold you together this solar month will be to maintain your optimism, deepen your faith, & do some behind-the-scenes work on taking right risks on yourself & your future.  With Sagittarian ruler, Jupiter in retrograde, you may find it difficult to act outright until the spring, or if you do get big plans set in motion now, expect them to revise, revision & realign in the coming months.  November closes with Venus in the shadow of her coming retrograde in Pluto-tinted Capricorn, & Mercury out of his recent retrograde in Scorpio.  One in-depth chapter closes, & another one opens.

In the first week of December, things lighten up a bit as Mercury enters optimistic Sagittarius on the 4th, & Mars enters Libra on the 7th.  This follows closely on the heels of the December 2nd Sagittarius new moon, so you’ll leap into a more hopeful, fresh start feeling around then. 

Mercury in Sagittarius:

What happens when I “zoom out” the camera of my perception in the various situations/relationships in my life?

What philosophies glue my experience of reality together in a way that inspires me to feel a vaster faith in the Universe, in humanity, & in myself?

Mars in Libra:

Am I compromising when a need to relinquish is necessary?

Am I standing up for myself when it’s necessary to stay my ground?

Am I doing the above in direct, effective & appropriate ways?

On the December 17th Gemini full moon, electrifying Uranus grinds to a halt in the sky as he stations direct.  At this point, the on-going Pluto/Uranus square - that challenges us as individuals & as a species to evolve the greater structures of our lives & governments while also managing outbursts of revolt against constrictions & jolting insights that rock our sense of reality - is now a grand cardinal cross, with Jupiter in Cancer & asteroids Vesta & Ceres in Libra.

Uranus stationing direct:

How have my revolutionary visions shifted since mid-July?

What is my inspiration now?

What is my muse now calling me to do that requires a new level of courage?

The cardinal cross:

How can I better balance activating my personal vision with nurturing & tending my most important relationships?

What can I do to live in better harmony with the earth, tending & stewarding this precious home we share with many other beings?

Am I being disciplined in my attention to the vaster shifts I’m making in my life?

Am I acting on my insights, & bringing them into reality in a way that accounts for the greater context of our shared reality?

Phew!  That’s quite enough.  We’ll get into the Venus retrograde in Capricorn (December 21st, 2013 - January 31st, 2014) in next month’s report.

If you’re the gift-giving sort, please note that I now have sweet little gift certificates available for any of my services, or as credit towards art, both commissions and ready-made.  Instructions for purchase can be found at the bottom of the astrology, CoAlithesis & Alithesis pages.

For more personalized insight, you may go here to schedule a private astrological consult, a healing session ($45 special on first-time treatments until 2014), or a healing intensive.  Consults & healings are both available in person, over the phone, or via Skype.  If you enjoy these reports, please forward this page on & repost it as you see fit.  Until next time, wishing you an inspired & expansive month.  Thanks for reading,

Rae Diamond

facebook

rae13diamond {at} gmail.com